62% report damage due to pandemic

More than half of UK manufacturers polled in July 2021 by Subcon (Birmingham NEC, 14-16 September) – the UK’s leading subcontract manufacturing supply chain show – have been impacted negatively by the pandemic: 43% quite negatively and 10% very negatively. On the flipside, 17% of the 81 respondents claimed no impact at all, and 23% actually profited from Covid-19, with 14% saying their business was impacted ‘quite positively’ and 9% ‘very positively’.

When asked how long they believe it will take for UK manufacturing to recover, 22% put their hands up to experiencing no losses, with 38% saying within 12 months, 26% within 3 years, 4% within 5 years and 3% stating never. A follow up question asked how respondents believe the pandemic has changed UK manufacturing over the last 18 months. Some 62% said it has increased the need to protect supply chains.

For further information
www.subconshow.co.uk

Guyson blast cabinet hits the target

Guyson International has recently installed a Guyson Euroblast 7PF (Pressure Fed) blast system at Merlin Archery, a designer and manufacturer of tournament shooting archery bows. The blast cabinet delivers a uniform bead-blasted cosmetic surface finish on Merlin’s range of machined compound bows and enhances the surface topography of components before anodising.

The Euroblast 7PF blast system is from Guyson’s premier industrial quality range and delivers good component access, with doors opening to the front, top and side. This access facilitates the easy loading of components into the internal blast chamber, which in this instance has a width of 1480 mm to accommodate the longest of the aluminium compound bow parts.

Merlin Archery’s blast system comprises a Guyson Euroblast 7PF blast cabinet, model 75/16 cyclone reclamator, G27 pressure pot and Guyson C400 dust collection unit. The system delivers fast (up to four-times faster than suction-fed systems), effective blast finishing on a vast array of components. Large armhole sleeve/glove assembly allows the operator greater flexibility of movement when blasting, while external roof-mounted LED lighting coupled with light-coloured rubber curtain lining offers additional cabinet protection and good contrast for parts visibility.

The 27-litre capacity pressure pot generates the blast stream within the blast chamber, and when the full-width foot pedal is depressed it pressurises the pot and starts the blast operation. Similarly, releasing the pedal de-pressurises the pot and stops the process. Guyson’s 75/16 cyclone reclamator separates re-usable media from the dust, blast debris and undersize media, while the C400 dust collector filters out and collects the dust-laden air from the blast cabinet using a single-cartridge filter.

For further information
www.guyson.co.uk

Success for Renishaw apprentices

Five degree apprentices from Gloucestershire-based Renishaw secured second place for their entry in the UK’s ‘Engineers without Borders’ competition. As part of the ‘Engineers for People Design Challenge’, the apprentices had to create an engineering brief based on real-world problems that would improve the lives of the people living in two towns in northern Peru. The team – Ella Brisland, Marcus Evans, Charlie Lodge, Ezra Price and Oliver Tutton – are currently in year one of a five-year Level 6 apprenticeship at Renishaw.

Together, the team developed a solution for Lobitos and Piedritas, two towns that experience serious sanitation problems. The apprentices’ solution consisted of a combination of biodigesters and oxidation ponds that plumbs sewage through the system, creating a sanitary sewage facility and turning waste into usable by-products. The system breaks sewage into clear effluent that can be processed and used for drinking water and sludge which can be deployed as fertiliser, providing a healthier area to live.

For further information www.renishaw.com

Tower storage improves efficiency

Founded in 1995 as a machinery maintenance firm, Mechtop now has over 50 employees designing and building conveyor systems, tanks, pipework and custom steel structures such as railings and staircases. Located in Wangen bei Olten in northern Switzerland, the multi-faceted company needs a high degree of flexibility in its day-to-day manufacturing operations, so has upgraded its materials logistics by installing two tower storage systems and a bandsaw from Kasto.

Dominic Felice, a director of Mechtop, says: “We mainly manufacture small and very small batches down to one-offs. This is often the case when we need spare parts urgently, for instance. To meet these demands, we require systems that are versatile enough to deal with a range of processes, including our internal logistics.”

The company processes sheet metal as well as long stock including bar, tube and profile. In the past, both of these raw material types were stored in manually operated cantilever storage facilities.

Mechtop therefore decided to modernise and automate its storage infrastructure. The company opted for a compact KASTOecostore and a UNITOWER tower storage system, both manufactured by Kasto. UNITOWER is equipped with 108 storage cassettes for holding long stock up to 6 m in length, while the KASTOecostore has 26 pallet storage shelves able to accommodate sheet material up to 3 x 1.5 m.

“Automatic storage offers us a range of advantages,” states Felice. “We’ve gained a lot of valuable space, a better overview of our inventory and more control over stock, so we can work more productively and efficiently.”

Mechtop has also invested in a KASTOmicut A 2.6 automatic bandsaw. With a cutting range of up to 260 mm diameter and infinitely adjustable mitre angles from -45 to +60°, the pivot-bow bandsaw offers enough scope to cut a wide range of different components.

For further information
www.kasto.com

MTC welcomes latest member

A European start-up in metal additive manufacturing systems has become the latest member of the Manufacturing Technology Centre in Coventry. AIM3D, a university spin-off company based in Rostock in Germany, is a specialist in 3D printing systems and has developed equipment for the low-cost production of various metal parts. The company’s equipment handles a range of materials, such as stainless steel, hard metals and non-ferrous metals. As part of its membership, AIM3D is installing its ExAM 255 additive manufacturing system at the MTC, which will be the only system of its kind in the UK.

For further information
www.the-mtc.org